Manuel Belleri was born in Gardone Val Trompia (Brescia), on 29 August, 1977.
As a footballer he grew up in Lumezzane's (Brescia) youth sector. He then made his debut for the first team in Serie C2 in 1993. He spent six seasons with "Il Lume", four in C2 and two in C1 (they won promotion in 1997). He made a total of 122 appearances for the "Valgobbini" and scored 7 goals.
In 1999 he moved up a league and joined Empoli in Serie B. He stayed five seasons, three in Serie B and two in Serie A (promotion in 2002), mainly under Sivio Baldini. With the Tuscan "Azzurri" he played a total of 169 games with 6 goals (1 in Serie A vs Bologna). In his last year with Empoli they were relegated and he moved on.
In 2004-05 he joined Udinese in Serie A. The manager was Luciano Spalletti and the Friulani had a great season finishing 4th, qualifying for the Champions League. Belleri played 22 league games, 6 in Coppa Italia and 1 in the UEFA Cup.
In 2005-06 he joined Lazio. Here he found Delio Rossi as manager and was reunited with former teammate Tommaso Rocchi. Lazio did well on the pitch with a 6th place but were then demoted to 16th for their involvement in Calciopoli (betting scandal). Belleri played 16 league games (1 goal vs Palermo), 1 game in Coppa Italia and 4 games in the Intertoto Cup (1 goal vs Tampere United).
In his second year in Rome the Biancocelesti had an excellent season finishing 3rd and qualifying for the Champions League preliminary (won vs Dinamo Bucharest). Belleri also played more: 22 league games (1 goal vs Ascoli) and 3 games in Coppa Italia.
In the summer of 2007, after he made one appearance in Champions League for Lazio, he was loaned to Atalanta in Serie A. The " Orobici" were managed by Luigi Delneri and Belleri played 20 league games. The Bergamaschi finished 9th.
In 2008-09 he came back to Lazio but, after only playing one league game, in January he was loaned to Bologna. In Emilia, under Sinisa Mihajlovic and then Giuseppe Papadopulo (both former Lazio), he made 6 league appearances. The Rossoblu finished 17th.
In 2009-10 he joined Lecce in Serie B. The Salentini won the league and promotion under Luigi De Canio. Belleri made 19 league appearances but was not kept on in Serie A.
In October 2010 he signed a two-year contract with SPAL from Ferrara in Lega Pro (3rd tier). In his first year the "Estensi" came 9th in Group A while the second they were relegated Lega Pro Second Division (4th tier). In total Belleri played 50 games with 2 goals for the Biancazzurri.
He then retired at 35. Since 2015 he has been living in Tokyo where he works as director of the Milan's footballing academy in Koto-ku.
Belleri was a right full-back. He was a diligent and reliable defender. At 1.77 and 72 kilos he was not particularly physical but had good athleticism. He could defend and attack. He had a decent career playing 139 matches in Serie A.
He was only with Lazio for a couple of years. His playing time was first limited by Massimo Oddo and then by the arrival of Valon Behrami. He managed however to play 38 Serie A games, 4 in Coppa Italia, one in Champions League and 4 in the Intertoto Cup. He was in the squad that won the 2009 Coppa Italia, although away on loan at the time of the final victory.
Lazio career
Season | Total appearances (goals) | Serie A | Coppa Italia | Champions League | Intertoto Cup |
2005-06 | 21 (2) | 16 (1) | 1 | - | 4 (1) |
2006-07 | 25 (1) | 22 (1) | 3 | - | - |
July-August 2007 | 1 | - | - | 1 | - |
2008-Jan 2009 | 1 | 1 | - | - | - |
Total | 48 (3) | 39 (2) | 4 | 1 | 4 (1) |
Sources